Which renovation mortgage is the best when it comes to financing and fixing up a house? Is it the FHA 203k? What about buying a Fannie Mae-owned home with HomePath Renovation? Have you heard about HomeStyle Renovation mortgage as an option? Which one is the best deal for you? We’re going to take a look at each of these, their pros and cons, and let you decide for yourself which route you’d like to go in today’s housing market.

Before we compare, let’s take a look at the basic definitions of each of these mortgage loan options.

FHA 203k

The 203k loan is a mortgage insured by the Federal Housing Administration, or FHA. You can make home improvements to the house you want, or the home you already own. Use the funds for simple upgrades to your home like a kitchen or bath improvement, or to completely reconstruct a home that is presently unlivable. You can even use a 203k Rehabilitation Loan to tear down an existing structure and build a new one using some portion of the existing foundation.

You can borrow up to 96.5% of the appraised value – based on the value when the improvements or repairs are completed. The home must be owner-occupied and a primary residence, so no investors or vacation homes.

HomePath Renovation

HomePath is a mortgage loan option available through Fannie Mae. The mortgage backer is not in the business of managing properties, so it aims to unload these Fannie Mae-owned homes to qualified buyers with incentives like low down payment, low prices and breaks on mortgage monthly mortgage insurance.

HomePath Renovation is a second part of HomePath, that allows a borrower to purchase a property that requires light to moderate renovation on Fannie Mae-owned properties. The one loan amount includes both the funds for the purchase and renovation – up to 35% of the as completed value, no more than $35,000.

HomeStyle Renovation

The HomeStyle Renovation option offers a low down payment option for qualified borrowers, as well as the chance for investors or buyers looking for a second home to buy-and-remodel.

With HomeStyle Renovation you can get a “purchase transaction mortgage” (you buy a home) or a limited cash-out refinance mortgage and receive funds to cover the costs of repairs, remodeling, renovations or energy efficient improvements to the property.

There are no required improvements or restrictions on the types of repairs allowed or a minimum dollar amount for the repairs. Repairs or improvement, however, must be permanently affixed to the real property and add value to the property.

As you can see, each loan option has requirements and benefits. If you’d like to avoid mortgage insurance, you may want to consider HomeStyle Renovation. If you’re interested in only Fannie Mae-owned properties, HomePath Renovation might be up your alley. Or if you’re looking to do some major repairs to a home like knocking it down to the foundation or adding a second story, FHA 203k might be the way to go.

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To find out more about which loan is right for you, call David Pauley!
Amerifirst Home Mortgage
Office: (502) 327-9240

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One big change is that FICO will no longer weigh Medical Debt as importantly as before. So, if your credit is mostly good with a few dings due to unpaid medical bills, your score will likely go up by quite a few points! If the increased score is good enough, it could mean the difference in qualifying for a mortgage or not. It’s also likely that your higher FICO can qualify you for a better interest rate.

Why the Change?

“We found that for someone where medical collections is their only derogatory, it is not as negative as a regular unpaid collection would be,” said Anthony Sprauve, a FICO spokesman. “So we adjusted the algorithm.”

Also, many times “medical bills ended up in the hands of collectors because of a billing error or some other confusion about what should have been paid by health insurance.” This unfairly dings your credit score.

What’s the Catch?

Mortgage Lenders tend to drag their feet when it comes to adopting new FICO models. Sometimes it takes years for them to actually apply the new rules.

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Just about every neighborhood has them… ugly, untended, vacant lots overrun by weeds, garbage or maybe worse! What can you do about it?

How about planting sunflowers like someone did on this lot in Old Louisville! In the midst of Louisville’s oldest neighborhood – Old Louisville – are several unsightly empty lots. This particular one, however, is now overrun with beautiful, stately Sunflowers!

Some other ideas to beautify your neighborhood eyesore:

-Coordinate a Community Garden Project

-Add a Playground

Obviously, you can’t do much without permission from the property owner but it never hurts to ask!

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Where will you be celebrating the 4th of July Independence Day, Louisville?

As usual, there is lots of fun stuff going on in this wonderful City of ours. Does a weekend ever go by where Louisville doesn’t have some sort of festival, street party or other outdoor fun? Usually, we have too many options, right? Well, the 4th of July is no exception. Here are just a few Independence Day events going on, with fireworks included, of course!

Unfortunately, the biggest event – the Waterfront Independence Festival – has been canceled due to a lack of funding so here are some alternatives:

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One of my relatives recently decided to buy some property and is now going through the difficult task of finding the right place to settle down for the next few decades. It’s a lengthy process, involving communication with immediate family members…

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The source of Butchertown’s name is no secret: since its founding, the area has been unusually industrial for a neighborhood – in particular, it has been home to many butchers. Only one slaughterhouse continues to operate in Louisville’s Butchertown, however, which signifies that the neighborhood’s bloody nickname is, for the most part, a historical reference.

Litigation and measures pushed by the Butchertown Neighborhood Association on behalf of its residents imply that the neighborhood’s last slaughterhouse, JBS Swift, may not be in the area forever. The BNA and JBS have gone head-to-head several times in the past 10 years on issues including noise pollution, safety for the slaughterhouse’s neighbors, and reduction of the unpleasant odors emitted at the plant.

Revitalization

Butchertown became a hotspot for local butchers in the mid-1800’s because of its location at what was then the edge of Louisville. As time passed, however, the neighborhood became more and more residential and urban, making its last slaughterhouse stand increasingly out of place. Many wish for the plant to be relocated to a more rural location in Jefferson County.

The successful revitalization of the western portion of Butchertown, now called “NuLu,” has attracted attention from the local and even national press. However, revitalization has been going on in the greater Butchertown area for decades–the neighborhood would not have been able to transition from being primarily industrial in the early twentieth century to the mostly-residential neighborhood it is today without a “remarkable preservation movement . . . inspired by the revitalization efforts of Old Louisville,” according to the Encyclopedia of Louisville.

The Future?

The future of Butchertown is hazy: the construction of a new bridge will likely mean demolition of buildings and more traffic in the area. However, the neighborhood has proven its strength and community against the odds in the past, and chances are that its dedicated neighborhood association will continue to do so.

Houses in Butchertown have some of the most reasonable prices in Louisville, and many are examples of historical, working-class homes.

SOURCE: National Association of Realtors May 22, 2014 10:00 ET WASHINGTON, DC–(Marketwired – May 22, 2014) – Existing-home sales increased for the first time this year in April, while inventory meaningfully increased and home price growth moderated…